Most Threatened Habitats

The Most Threatened Habitats named in the report

The Most Threatened Habitats named in the report

Coastal Lagoons
Lagoons support plants such as tasselweed as well as sand shrimps and snails. Main threats include drainage for agriculture and water pollution from agricultural sources as well as domestic effluent due to increasing urbanisation.

Saltmarsh
Characterised by perennial glasswort, this habitat is very rare in Ireland and protected under the Flora Protection Order. There are only five saltmarsh sites, all on the southeast coast, and some have been damaged by "off-road vehicles" and horse-riding.

White dunes
White dunes tend to be dominated by marram grass. Threats include the depletion of blown sand due to removal of beach materials, coastal protection works and sand compaction caused by motor vehicles on the beach as well as trampling by visitor pressure.

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Grey dunes
Also known as fixed dunes, these are more stabilised. Their vegetation includes sand sedge, red fescue, birdsfoot trefoil and orchids. Many sites have been affected by such developments as sports pitches, golf courses, caravan parks, housing, roadways and airstrips.

Decalcified Dunes
Found on the landward edge of dune systems and characterised by crowberry and gorse, this very rare heath-like habitat is restricted to the northwest coast. Main pressures are agricultural improvement, overgrazing by cattle and development of sand quarries.

Humid Dune Slacks
These wet or moist areas between dune ridges support rushes, sedges and herbs such as marsh pennywort. They are under threat from a range of impacts including overgrazing, water abstraction and drainage, golf course developments, forestry and coastal protection.

Machair
A highly complex dune habitat globally restricted to the northwest coasts of Ireland and Scotland — confined here to the coastal zone between Galway and Donegal.

Main threats include fencing of commonage, overgrazing, recreation, housing and sand extraction.

Oligotrophic Lakes
Shallow lakes with low levels of nutrients, these occur in both lowland and upland locations. The principal threats include overgrazing and excessive use of fertilisers, afforestation, sewage effluent from housing in rural areas and the introduction of invasive alien species.

Hard Water Lakes
Hard water lakes tend to be shallow, with the bottom covered in algae. Rapid loss in water quality associated with phosphorous enrichment has been documented for Lough Sheelin and Lough Ennell. Continued threats come from intensive agriculture and urban development.

Wet Heath
Widespread in uplands and in the west, its vegetation is characterised by purple heather and sphagnum mosses. Land reclamation, burning and afforestation have caused extensive losses while sites have been degraded by overstocking of sheep, especially in the west.

Lowland Hay Meadows
The best remaining examples are the Shannon callows, where land floods in winter. But agricultural intensification, drainage and, more recently, abandonment of pastoral systems all lead to the loss of some typical flora and to a reduction in the area of the habitat.

Raised Bog
Active raised bogs are sustained mainly by rainwater with colourful vegetation. Concentrated in the midlands and midwest, they are now extremely rare, having decreased by over 35 per cent in the last 10 years due to peat cutting, drainage, forestry and burning.

Blanket Bog
Blanket bog occurs mainly on lowlands and uplands on Ireland's Atlantic coast. Extensive areas have been removed or highly modified by reclamation, peat extraction, afforestation but also by erosion and even landslides triggered by human activity.

Fens
These may be found in valleys, floodplains and wet meadows. Like most peatland types in Ireland, fens have experienced a decline in quality, mostly as a result of activities such as peat mining, draining for cropland, infilling, fertiliser pollution and eutrophication.

Oak Woods
Sessile oak woodlands occur on acidic soils mostly in upland areas throughout the country but especially in Wicklow and west Cork/south Kerry. Invasive alien species, notably rhododendron, are a threat to many stands of ancient oaks as is "sub-optimal grazing".